12 AM on a School Night
by Kaesteranya
Summary: My collection of flash fiction pieces and standalone shorts for the various characters of Kekkaishi. Some pieces will contain spoilers for the series.
1. The understudy, Gen

**The understudy**

…_Yes, I am fully aware of Gen's fate but I am writing this anyway because I love him. _

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for May 10, 2007._

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His leader was a powerful man; Gen knew this, but what truly fascinated him about Masamori was the fact that he almost always seemed haloed by some sort of light. It could have been his imagination, but whenever he'd look up from his training to see his leader crossing the grounds by day, he'd be greeted by a sight that never failed to leave him breathless: Masamori walking, Masamori cutting out a tall silhouette in black against the blinding blue sky and the scintillating green of the trees and plants around them, moving like he was a force all on his own, powered by will.

Masamori had once seemed tall, almost impossibly tall, to Gen when he had been younger and lonelier. He was older now, but nothing had changed that feeling he'd get whenever he'd have to look up into that face.


	2. Clay Feet, Masamori

**Clay feet.**

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for April 2, 2008._

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In retrospect, Yoshimori grew up knowing that his brother hated him, and if it wasn't him, then it was something _about_ him, something to do with the fact that his younger brother had a funny little square on the back of his hand and he didn't. It colored everything: the way they talked with each other, the way they ate together at the dinner table, the way Masamori was always four steps ahead of him. Beyond sullen irritation and childish jealousy over the fact that Tokine admired Masamori without question, Yoshimori's most vivid memories of his brother were the image of his back: how he stood straight and tall at all times in all places, straight and tall and strong. Three things that Yoshimori wasn't. Three things that he quite possibly would never be.

He could never understand it, why he had the mark of the successor and his brother didn't, and what made things worse was that it drove a wedge between them, defined by four steps and stilted conversations. Even now, even with the power of his ancestors at his disposal, Yoshimori figured that a single brand wasn't worth closing the door on a relationship and the million and one possibilities related to it.


	3. The day dies easy, Tokine & Yoshimori

**The day dies easy.**

_Meant to take place after the point where the television series stops; between that, and the events in the manga that follow it._

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for October 16, 2007._

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It has been a long time since they've had a night like this one: quiet and uneventful, full of the sort of _ayakashi _that both of them, by now, can trap and eliminate on reflex. Strange, how prior to all that they have gone through, both of them were raring for a little action. Now they feel much older than their actual years, with enough excitement to last them until they're both old and gray and content with watching whoever their future successors will be run around and bicker with each other.

They find themselves face to face well before midnight, blinking almost confusedly at each other, refusing to believe that they may have just banished the very last creature for the evening and no evil things were going to leap up out of the dark and threaten to destroy the world starting with their humble little school. They turn away at roughly the same time once they both realize that they've been staring. Yoshimori mumbles something about the cake he made the other day and how he brought over the slices his family didn't already consume in their enthusiasm. Tokine tucks some loose strands of hair behind her ear and says that _perhaps_ she could try it since he sounds like he really, really needs her opinion anyway.

As they sit side by side on the extension over the entrance to their school building, Yoshimori and Tokine's fingers nearly touch whenever one of them moves to shift through their stuff, or fight off a yawn. They talk a little, just once, a bit about how the cake is rather good and Yoshimori should probably try making it in another flavor just for kicks, but beyond that, they are content with the silence.


	4. The lint of love, Atora

**The lint of love.**

_The title for this fic is taken from the 31 Days theme for October 27, 2007, and it has Gen-centric spoilers all over! Beware!_

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The scent of fresh laundry makes Atora remember him: it's a clean, fresh smell, with just a hint of something floral or something citrus or something sharp and named for this-and-that body of water. Odd, how one can bring one's self to remember the dead by smell, but it somehow works because it's Gen she is thinking about. He was never any good at taking care of himself, and his clothes were no exception. She has long lost count of the number of times she'd scold him over a needle and some thread, speaking of costs and time and effort as she replaces yet another sleeve for the umpteenth time. As he got stronger, however, she began being grateful for the fact that it was the sleeve she lost and not his arm.

She cried, however, the day she found himself standing in his empty apartment, looking at the meticulously folded clothes and the sheets hanging out to dry, because it was only in that moment that she realized that there wouldn't be any more sleeves to stitch on, and no lectures on cleanliness and washing to deliver. She remembers the hours she spent on the floor that day, holding his uniform to her nose, trying to see if there was some trace of him to remember him by before soap and water rubbed it away completely.


End file.
